Back to Babylon

By Simon TsangMarch 29 2003
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With all the conflict and turmoil in Iraq at the moment, it may be easy to overlook the colourful history of this region filled with ... uh, conflict and turmoil.

The area now defined by the borders of Iraq roughly covers a territory that, for the greater part of its history, was known as Mesopotamia, which is Greek for "between the rivers", named after the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Over the time, Mesopotamia played host to rich civilisations including the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian.

According to Wikipedia's coverage of the history of Iraq, "the Mesopotamian plain was called the Fertile Crescent" incorporating "present-day Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey". However, the fertile lands of the river valleys also suffered "devastating floods that wiped out entire peoples". It is this region that has been credited with the birth of civilisation, beginning with the Sumerian culture that dates back to 4000 BC.

It is good to know that someone has done the hard work of summarising the more significant events of the region and presented it in one page. The Encyclopaedia of the Orient is a summary of conquerors and the conquered from the time of the Sumerians, through to the Ottoman Empire and down to our age - including March 20, 2003.

Technology-wise, the Sumerians are said to be the first to use alloy bronze "which allowed them the development of much better instruments than what had been possible before". Apparently, they also invented writing, and the plough and the wheel, though rumours of sliced bread are largely exaggerated.
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In modern times, Britain defined the boundaries of modern-day Iraq after taking control of it from the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It "combined three Ottoman districts, the northern mostly Kurdish district governed from Mosul; the middle largely Sunni Arab district, which contained Baghdad; and the southern predominantly Shiite district, whose major city was Basra". However, the British "lopped off Kuwait, even though it had been part of the Basra district during Ottoman times", giving Saddam its excuse for invading Kuwait in 1990 and triggering the first Gulf War.

Today a major international concern is the humanitarian crisis triggered by the war. In 1990, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait, only to pass a resolution to provide humanitarian relief in the form of an oil-for-food program five years later as a "temporary measure". To date, the UN estimates 3.4 billion barrels of Iraqi oil valued at about $US64 billion ($107 billion) have been exported under the program and $US26.9 billion worth of humanitarian supplies and equipment have been delivered to Iraq since December, 1996.

However, the legitimacy of economic sanctions has been questioned by reports such as the Global Policy Forum, which expresses "widespread doubts about the sanctions' effectiveness and their legal basis under international humanitarian and human rights law". It argues that although "Iraq sanctions produced some significant disarmament results, they failed to achieve all their policy goals and they have deeply harmed powerless and vulnerable Iraqi citizens".

The oil-for-food scheme also came under fire for failing "to resolve the humanitarian crisis, much less provide a long-term solution for Iraq". But it concedes that the government of Iraq "bears a heavy burden of responsibility due to the wars it has started, its lack of co-operation with the Security Council, its domestic repression and its failure to use limited resources fairly. However, the UN Security Council shares responsibility for the humanitarian crisis".

The GPF proposes a form of "targeted sanctions", which directly impacts on Iraq's leaders "by freezing their assets and preventing their international travel, without damage to ordinary Iraqis".

The situation in Iraq just before the war was already critical, according to Joel R. Charny, of Refugees International. He says, "As the occupying power, the US will have specific obligations under international humanitarian law, in a country where the vulnerability of the population is already higher after years of war and international sanctions. US humanitarian preparations do not at this stage match its potential obligations."

The Refugees International site advocates a series of measures which are designed to assist aid agencies perform their "life-saving mission" on behalf of Iraqis.